There are some truly wonderful and very comprehensive articles out there that discuss ‘how to build a successful author platform’ and also the many reasons why you should do so ASAP. But I’m just gonna keep it simple for you (and short), because simple and short has worked for me.
When building your author platform, the four most important things you need to do are:
1) choose ONE social media account to focus on
2) enjoy it
3) consistently use it and;
4) grow it.
In my opinion, if you try to develop multiple accounts at the same time, you’ll:
a) get stretched too thin trying to manage everything and;
b) your author platform/s will therefore suffer.
It’s like catching a train. You don’t stand on the platform waiting to board 10 trains do you? No, you’re waitng for one train and one train only. And once you catch that train, you’ll finally start heading in the right direction (hopefully, I’ve caught the wrong train a few times lol).
To create a successful platform (that will reach as many potential readers as possible), you need to give your chosen ‘train’ your sole attention and focus. For years my twitter account was my main priority, but when I created my blog in 2015, I immediately switched focus. My blog would not be where it is today if I’d tried to grow all my different accounts at once.
My biggest platform is of course my blog – and I LOVE IT. So much so that I find it hard to stay away sometimes. Even if I’m not posting new articles, I’m always lurking in the background, reading other people’s posts and digging around WordPress searching for hidden gems and a cracker of a life story.
At most I have connected all my social media accounts to my blog, so that my new posts are automatically shared – this saves a lot of time and effort when there is little spare time to be had (because you should be writing that novel??)
I do have an Instagram account, but I find the interactions over there pretty impersonal and the whole follow/unfollow thing DRIVES ME CRAZY. So yeah, I prefer to hang around here even if it means I’m losing 100 followers a week on Insta (true story.)
Another thing, if you keep things simple, you’re less likely to give up. And that my friend, is what many people do. They give up.
Moral of the story: find a platform you love (whether that be a blog or your twitter account), invest a heap of time and energy into it and voila! Success will follow!
I mean… there’s like so many more steps to the succeeding part, but you get what I mean.
The Cat's Write 
Whew!!! I don’t have to set up another social media platform! I was about to embark on an Instagram journey, but now I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m new to this game, and it seemed with websites, Facebook, Insta, Twitter et al there was a lot of duplication going on. Thanks so much for your common sense advice, I feel like I’m on the right track.
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can i ask? sorry to deviate. i have pages on my blog – how do i post on pages?
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Great point! Only if there was one dashboard to manage all these accounts. My concern is no matter how much I try, if there is not an endorsement from a popular figure, I won’t get traffic. Is my concern real?
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Thanks for the great advice, Milly! I was dabbling in several platforms, but I like blogging best. Glad to hear that’s a fine place to start. : ) R
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Reblogged this on Poetry Repository.
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I used to focus all my energy on Twitter. I’ve cut back a lot and am now focusing on my blog.
Great post!
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Great idea! I’ve cut back on twitter a lot in the last year, still love lurking though!
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I can never give it up completely 😂😂
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Me too!!
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I mentioned you in my blog today and wondered how you are? I have not seen any blogs from you in my Reader for a bit, are you alright? I hope if you’re taking a well-deserved break you’ll come back when the time is right.
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I’m still here! Mainly lurking on other people’s blogs. Was having a small break and focusing on writing 🙂
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I’m happy for your break and writing.. and lurking. Especially if I’m one of the lucky lurkees, if you please! Still writing my book and considering the same. Need to finish the first draft. Care to share with me your writing habits, tips, motivation? I just got Good Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins. Heard of it? BTW, hoping to win a trip to NZand based on the number of bike rides I do I may have a shot.. Who knows maybe I can find a way there to say hi. That’d be a dream trip, to visit other bloggers, right? Glad to hear from you, The Cats Write. Feel free to gmail me anytime.
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So true! There are so much social media plataforms and so little time to manage them all!!
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Reblogged this on Babylon Tales and commented:
This is really good, simple approach to building your author platform. Something I myself am having to rethink and start over at doing, because mine was on Google+. Please read the full post, it’s solid and short and sweet.
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I definitely found #1 to be true. When first starting out, I spread myself too thin and tried to use all social media platforms.
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Eish, I feel like I do know know what niche to focus on. I dont know if i must have many blogs or one blog with different topics. because my books are different. one is titled
1. healing hurting women through Christ
2. Start that business!
so i feel torn in two and not sure what to blog about. whats your take bloggers?
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Thank you for the frank & simple advice – I find navigating social media at best challenging and I do feel very divided st times. Your post gives me much to chew on …
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These days, you can have a single social venue publish to the others. WordPress will publish to fb,tw,g+ (soon to die),tumblr, li. And, I suppose if one is clever, one could have them resubmit to others like instagram and pintrest, etc.
My point is that you could focus on one, but still be present on the others. And occasionally post over — there — is not such a bad practice either.
Time, of course, is the limiting factor here. A full time author might be able to manage a half dozen social platforms. Me? I can barely keep up with those select few bloggers (like you) I elect to follow closely.
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I think your point about choosing a platform you enjoy using is crucial. If it’s a chore you’re not going to keep it up and it will come over to your audiences that you’re not enjoying it.
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When you lose yourself in the bubble of Nanowrimo and forget that anyone exists in your family, let alone the blogging world, you miss out. It’s as simple as that!! I’d forgotten just how good your posts are Milly … this is fabulous. x
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Oh, totally get what you mean by this, Milly. I learned the hard way and spread myself too thinly. I’ve also realised that those who do manage to be everywhere (and usually within a few minutes of a blog post or social media entry being published), usually leave comments that are often of no value and do not mention anything about the contents of the post. It’s impossible (and not good) to be everywhere.
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It’s easy for all of us to do to much. By limiting ourselves to a few or one, it gives us a chance to excel. Thank for this.
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You know, I felt bad that I was neglecting my other social media because I’ve spent most of my time on my blog, but I feel better after reading your post. I was feeling stretched trying to do multiple channels, and then I lost interest in them because I wanted to blog. Now, the only one I post to regularly is Facebook, but it’s usually just sharing other people’s funny posts or my latest blog post (which replaced my humorous FB updates).
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Great advice! This is something I could definitely benefit from! While I definitely enjoy Instagram from the personal social aspect, when it comes to building a platform as an author I think you may be right. I think it’s best to hone in on one and give it all you got!
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What are your thoughts of creating a separate Facebook or other social media account for use in promoting your blog? I just don’t know if I want everyone knowing my business; I’m a bit paranoid!! 😳
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I just went out and did it ☺ it’s a bit nerve racking at first knowing your friends and family are aware of what you do, but I’m used to it now ☺
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Thank you! That’s good advice.
I understand what you mean – I might be more worried about writing something personal if I knew friends & family might read it, but I think it might be worthwhile. Thanks again!
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Thanks for the great advice,, I have seen people spend counts hours trying to be on every platform and e-mail gathering method there is only to burn out and give up completely.
Keep it simple and write for the love of writing is very good advice.
Have a super wonderful day.
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Another great blog Milly – you are amazing and have such great ideas, thoughts, knowledge to share xx
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Thank you xx
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That is a solid piece of advice. I hate the follow/unfollow thing on Instagram too.
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Yeah it pretty much drives me crazy!!
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Me too!
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“Another thing, if you keep things simple, you’re less likely to give up.”- This is gem <3.
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Thank you 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Milly, great advice. Using Twitter and WordPress have been my bread & butter. Do 1-2 things really well, which reminds me of Jim Collin’s book From Good to Great.
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I haven’t read that book before, looks really ‘great’ 🙂 And I’m glad I’m not the only one using mainly Twitter & WordPress – I just don’t think I could manage any others, so I try not to stress myself out that I don’t have much of a presence on all the other platforms. My facebook is pretty sad-looking actually!
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Great blog Milly – definitely food for thought for all you wonderful bloggers out there.
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Thank you 🙂
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Reblogged this on Cynthia Hilston – Author & Blogger.
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Reblogged this on Treeshallow Musings and commented:
A good plan. I have multiple social media pages, and I admit I do struggle to focus on them all.
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Happy lurking.
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Hey Milly. So true! I actually thought about this a few hours a go. There was a time when things weren’t shared online. Humans weren’t focused on multiple social media accounts, yet they still succeeded and thrived. And we can and should do the same.
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Reblogged this on WRITE OUTSIDE and commented:
Great thoughts on social media platforms from Millyschmidt.com! Check it out 😊
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